Project Bluefield - a-2012 - The Lay of a Broken-Winged Sparrow
by 017Bluefield
Summary: An original concept merging with Bladesworn's Aion fanfic, The Lay of a Broken-Winged Sparrow. Involves a "freak of nature", although the *who* won't be very clear in the beginning. Please R&R. Note: Rated T for graphic descriptions and language.
1. Chapter 1: Trial and Errors

**Disclaimer**: I do not own _Aion_, nor the fanfiction story this is based on. I only own the characters, places, objects, ideas, and such from my "Project Bluefield" concept.

* * *

It started like this.

After walking through the doorway, I found myself in complete darkness. As far as I could tell, there were no walls, no ceiling—just a cold stone floor, playing host to the absence of light in every direction. I felt a breeze swept by, carrying the moan of despair with it. It felt like the place was literally drained of its hope, anticipation for the future stolen away, leaving despair to converge with the shadows here.

_This beginning,_ I thought, _is plagued with anguish. Hope they don't die too soon._

I looked around in a pointless attempt to gain my bearings. With sight useless, I focused on my hearing. The breeze, soft as it was, was covering up any other sounds that could be here. For a few minutes, I was just standing there like an idiot. Then—

I made out a scraping noise, metal on stone, coming from beyond an object directly behind me. I turned to look.

A set of wooden double doors, fifty feet away from me, illuminated itself before my eyes. It was bright enough for me to see clearly. Walking up to it, I saw that the door was 15 feet tall and 6 feet wide—much too large for one person—and carved from the dark wood of some unnamed tree. The intricate designs and handles of the doors were made of darkened silver. The door's top half was adorned with a silver insignia—a heptagon containing two falcon-like birds, each locking its talons with the other. I could hear the sound of dragging chains, among footsteps and talking, coming from the other side. No question about it—this is the door I was looking for.

I grabbed both handles, pushed outward…and found myself in the middle of a castle hall.

At least, that's what I could recognize from the almost alien setup. The room itself was heptagon-shaped, just like the insignia, yet fashioned from steel-grey granite. Banners hung from the high wooden rafters that held up the ceiling. Highly detailed tapestries adorned each of the room's seven walls. They all seemed to follow the same storyline—love and loss, death and despair, the bitter tears of an albino songstress. Loads of happy stuff.

All around me, people were gathered around the center of the room. Many people wore expensive clothing that clearly defined them as aristocrats and nobles; but most wore simple garments of either brown or greyish cloth. Most of the audience simply milled around, conversing with each other.

In front of me, a trio of wooden seats stood on a small stone platform. They were carved from some sort of tree, fashioned into grand single-piece furnishings. A man with pale blue skin, indigo hair and dark robes occupied the center seat, facing the entry door. He was likely the lord of the people here. He reminded me of a marble statue—all imperfection chiseled out to make room for the splendor. What almost made me gulp, however, was his face: his blue eyes were burning with a suppressed rage. It was like a valuable part of his soul was torn from him, and he wanted to make the guy responsible pay.

Somehow, that reminded me of…a few years ago.

_What could've happened to make_ him _this furious?_ I wondered.

I half-expected the throned man to notice me and send the guards on me, but he didn't seem to notice me. In fact, none of the people in this hall seemed to notice that a stranger had appeared smack-dab in the middle of the room. Then I noticed something. In front of the three seats, what appeared to be rain was falling through the air. I walked up to the platform (_Excuse me, sir._) and reached out at it. My hand met an invisible wall, like glass, with the "rain" about a centimeter away from my fingers. I looked around. The wall extended around the center, the locals behind it, milling around in the "rain".

_Oh, that's right,_ I thought. _Grey Realm._ In layman's terms, they _couldn't_ see me.

I turned around. As I'd expected, the doors I'd come through had vanished. In their place, several feet away, were the main doors of the hall:. Everyone present was starting at them—some with anger, few with pity, all with anticipation.

After a few seconds, the doors opened with a low groan. Beyond them was a woman in chains.

Her head was bowed, obscuring her face with her raspberry red hair. She was wearing a light-grey outfit of some coarse material, her hands bound by chains. She had an aura that radiated something familiar—something from earlier. Despair.

"She who has lost reason and will to live on." Only one person in the immediate vicinity matched that description.

Found her.

* * *

They brought her in, set her at the center, and backed off. There she sat, back stiff, head down. Her posture told me that she'd already given up. She was beyond caring how she would die, only that it would happen.

The throned man spoke. "Read the charges." His soft voice echoed throughout the chamber. It seemed out of place, given the rest of him, but it still made the woman flinch. At least, I was pretty certai that she had. Another female, presumably a speaker, stepped forward with a piece of parchment.

I could only wait, pacing the edges of the circle like a wolf. I wasn't really paying attention to what the speaker was saying. As she spoke, the woman in chains, her mouth closed, looked up at the throned man. I wasn't really paying attention; I didn't need to, at present. I glanced at the device on my left forearm. The ZeroDrive (a wrist-worn device used by all Zeroes) would, aside of other things, record any and all information I came across for review later. That said, I did catch a few key morsels: "Lord Carcarron", "Jaya Azhdeen", "failure to protect". The rest was either not for now, irrelavent, or completely false. Maybe all three.

As the speaker finished, the throned man, Lord Carcarron, looked down on the woman with a hard, composed expression. He spoke again, his eyes smoldering, voice in controlled anger: "How do you plead, Azhdeen?"

The two stared at each other for about thirty seconds. Then the woman, Jaya Azhdeen, broke off her gaze, turned it to the granite floor. She spoke softly, sounded as if she'd mainly used her voice for crying. "I am at my liege's mercy."

She really had given up. For some reason, it made me feel...sick.

As if on cue, the speaker spoke again, this time calling out six names, nobles or important figures who would act as a jury. Azhdeen did not move from her spot, only kept her eyes on the floor. From the left (on Carcarron's far right), a healer named Ciella gave a thumbs-up sign and a deep "Mercy." A wave of murmurs spread in the audience, as if her word was a pebble falling into a calm lake. On Ciella's left, guard captain Asric did the opposite: a thumbs-down and the word "Death." On Carcarron's immediate right, a swordswoman named Callyan repeated the gesture. Her call for "Death!" rung in the chamber like a clock tower bell.

To this, Jaya let out a nearly-soundless laugh—the kind you'd hear from maniacal people. Carcarron noticed, and I could have sworn that she'd lowered her head a tad bit downward as his frowned deepened a little. But he didn't stop the proceedings.

Pentarus Lockstep, Carcarron's "spymaster", was next. He answered with a quiet "Mercy."—an act that generated a louder wave of murmurs amongst the crowd. Lord Carcarron himself briefly looked at Lockstep, his face almost impossible to make out. Next came Sryddan Redfeather, the tallest and thickest man in the room. He responded with "Death", his voice booming like a bass speaker. Finally came Kyaran, Lord Carcarron's aged "high sorceress". She gave a thumb to the ceiling and a warbled "Mercy." She wasn't done, though; he turned to Carcarron and said, "I leave the decision with you, Avarran. Aion guide your heart."

With that, the six nobles turned and left the circle, leaving me to pace with a prisoner and her (former) lord.

Carcarron thought about his verdict on Jaya. I kept pacing, intent on hearing his answer. I could almost _feel_ the prisoner's sorrow resonate from her—a wish to die, for having lost all real meaing and reason to live in this world...

"_...Mercy._"

The softness of Carcarron's answer was a polar opposite to its actual impact. I stopped pacing and looked at the two. I saw Jaya look up at Carcarron, shock and disbelief etched into her paling face. "No," she whispered, as if in horror.

"Yes," he firmly countered, rising out of his chair to loom over the accused, who continued to stare at him as if she couldn't look away. His eyes now burned with both anger and malice - he'd decided to make her suffer. "Jaya Azhdeen, formerly of Carcarron, I strip you of all rank and title and banish you from my lands. You will be taken by convoy to the White Barrow, interred there as a prisoner, and remain there for as many years until I or another liege of Pandaemonium chooses to grant you freedom. Though little enough has come of it as yet..."—and as he paused, his eyes narrowed into slits—"...the bloodline must be preserved."

Jaya Azhdeen was stunned speechless for a few seconds. Then she pressed her right hand to her left shoulder, managing a shaky pair of words. "M-My brother...?"

I raised an eyebrow. _"Brother"?_

Sitting back down, Carcarron responded, his eyes still alight with an evil fire: "Is of far more use and talent than his sister. He will remain at the Academe; I will send a courier notifying him of your fate."

Jaya looked mortified. Any chance of saying farewell before being sent to a cage...simply gone. Hundreds of others would not miss her—who would care for a prisoner about to be shipped off to prison? And that she would be remebered for her great failure—especially while she was still alive—was unbearable for her. Jaya pressed on her shoulder with greater force, as if she were trying to squeeze some unseen pain away. Her other hand went up to her neck, where she traced a necklace's shape before letting her hand fall to her side. After a moment, she bowed her head again. "Yes, my liege."

With that, normal activity resumed its course. At least, that's what I could guess from. As the crowd dispersed, Carcarron started to give orders to his servants and soldiers. Busy castle life, I'd say, except for the young woman who'd been practically forgotten, still sitting in the center of the hall. Jaya didn't move, waiting for the guards to escort her on her way to the White Barrow. So submerged was she in despair and resignation that she didn't notice old Ciella walking up from behind.

As she gently touched Jaya's shoulder, I noticed something in her other hand—a necklace. Jaya turned to the healer, who gave her a small smile as she slipped it into Jaya's clutching, shaking hands. With that done, Ciella turned and walked off, dissappearing past a group of leaving commoners. Jaya watched her go, before opening her hands to see what she'd been given. As she opened her fingers, I saw, on the coraline-and-jade necklace in her hands, a familiar symbol.

The heptagon with dueling kestrals. The mark of Carcarron.

With everything that had happened to her, I guessed that Jaya couldn't hold the tears back any longer today. As she wept, not giving a damn about anything else, she pressed the necklace to her chest. _She's kinda like me,_ I thought at that moment. I knew how it feels—losing loved ones, friends, family, home—not realizing what you have 'til it's gone.

Still, I couldn't change anything about this situation, this story by another's hand. Nothing I did here, in this or any other world, would change a story or its direction—a fact that kept nagging at me for more than 3 years. Besides, I knew better, and I had my orders. The price I've paid a long time ago... It was enough to remind me of that.

After all, I made a promise. And I still intend to keep it.

* * *

A group of soldiers finally came to take Jaya from Carcarron. She continued to weep as she was led out of the black castle, onto a night-covered road, and into a cage-like wooden wagon. As the wagon left the keep, with horse-like monsters pulling it and a squad of soldiers guarding it, she curled up on the straw inside, glancing at the castle for one last time before crying herself to sleep.

I followed the escort party, keeping an eye on her prone form. Once she was asleep, I climbed the wagon onto the roof and laid down on my back. As expected, the guards didn't even react. I raised my head up to look at the dark, grim castle. Without meaning to, I burned the image of the keep into my memory before resting my head.

Neither of us knew it then, but Jaya wasn't going to reach the White Barrow.

In fact, she wouldn't be in this side of the world for a long time.

Ten seconds after I'd rested my head, I fell asleep, and the usual dream found me.

_Well, it's official: I'm hooked_, I thought, as I slipped out of conciousness._ Now, to make sure that others get to enjoy it..._

* * *

_Hmm... Wonder if I'll ever get used to this "test" crap. Oh, well,_ I thought.

The setting this time is a circular grey-white room. The whole thing seemed to be made out of thick grey and white clouds, though the floor alone was pretty solid. I was in the center, with my sword already in my right hand. I looked around, wondering what how I'd be attacked _this_ time.

It didn't take long for an Umbral Form—a monster fashioned from darkness—to answer my question with a horizontal swing to the back.

"Gah!" I hit the floor, painfully rolling out of the way. Getting back up, I took a better look at my attacker. Although the armored sillouette was constantly twitching, making it hard to look at straight, I did recognize its face.

The eyes. The nose. The mouth. Everything.

Jaya Azhdeen. This thing was mimicking _her._

I didn't have much time to think about that before the Umbral took its sword to stab me in the chest.

"Gaaagh—!"

The strike hurt like hell. I almost dropped my sword, but I managed to keep myself together. At this point, the Umbral Form realized that I wasn't dying and tried to pull the blade out. Before it could, I grabbed the blade with my sword hand, uncomfortable as it was, and hung on. I could feel Fracture Fluid bleeding out of my wounds, leaving red outlines of cracking glass instead of blood on the ground. I struggled to keep Umbral Jaya from getting away. With my right hand occupying the Umbral's attention, I reached out with my left, plunging it into the monster's chest before pulling something out.

A necklace, similar to the one the real Jaya had, except it was glowing brightly. I let go of the Umbral's sword (the owner pulling in out of my chest) and snapped the necklace in half.

**_CRACK!_**

Dropping the pieces, I grasped at my chest. The wound started to heal, too slowly. The Umbral Form started to come toward me again, its sword swing down on me, my own "blood" flying from the blade.

I quickly dove out of the way, one hand clamped to the wound, as the monster's weapon sprang back from hitting the floor.

_GLANG!_

Landing on my shoulder and the back of my neck (which hurt), I rolled onto my feet, sword out. By then, Umbral Jaya had already recovered from "her" failed attack and turned towards me. I attacked with an arc to the head, but the Umbral deflected the strike and made to pierce my heart. With my left hand, I managed to push the stab away, but not without cutting myself. I ignored the pain and dealt an outward swing to the monster's chest.

The skirmish drew on for another ten, twelve seconds before I noticed, just within my peripherals, _another_ Jaya.

The _real_ Jaya.

I swung my blade horizontally, my opponent jumping back to evade, before looking to my left.

There she was, laying a few meters away. Right on the spot where I'd dropped the "necklace" fragments.

She was still in her dove-grey clothing, just as she had during the trial. Clutched in her hand still was her jade necklace. She wore across her visage a bewildered, shocked expression that bordered near fright. Her silver eyes stared at me and her Umbral doppelgänger, as though we had just landed in front of her from the moon.

_So this is in_ her_ dreams, then,_ I thought.

Jaya looked between me and the Umbral Form. Then she turned towards me, and asked a question that I both didn't understand at all (given the foreign language) and yet understood completely:

"Who…are you…?"

Oh, man. This question again.

Before I had a chance to answer, Umbral Jaya appeared out of nowhere behind me, flickering and shifting constantly, and shoved me to the floor, hard. I hit the ground on my stomach with a dull _THUD!_

"Ohhff!"

I struggled to get up. The Umbral raised one booted foot and dropped it onto my back.

I almost tasted solid cloud, though it felt more like solid _pavement_. "Auh!"

In pain, I tried to look up from the ground, Umbral Jaya had started to slowly advance her original counterpart. Jaya herself realized what was happening and tried, half-heartedly, to back away. As it approached, the doppelgänger brought its sword up high, above its head, as though to slice her in half. Jaya backed up to the edge of the room, her back making contact with a seemingly-nonsolid wall. She looked behind her in dismay before looking at her soon-to-be executioner. A few seconds pause, then Jaya bowed her head, resigned to death she truly believed to deserve so.

Ignoring the pain again, I pushed myself up, broke into a sprint. The Umbral Jaya roared something, in a barely-human version of the real Jaya's voice, before bringing its sword down on her in a deadly arc:

_**"FOR CARCARRON!"**_

_No!_ I thought, gripping my sword.

_Clang—SHLOCK!_

* * *

After the _coup de grâce_, the Umbral Form's blade was frozen just a hair's width of Jaya's raspberry hair. After a brief pause, she looked up, realizing that she was _still_ alive, to find her doppelgänger apparently frozen solid, not moving a muscle.

It took a few seconds for her to realize that her _would_-be executioner appeared to have lost its head.

Then the monster fell backward, in front of my feet, its form disintergrating into dark, dusty mist upon contact. I looked at the monster's vanishimg "corpse" before looking up at Jaya.

She stared at me. I stared at her. As we stared at each other, the cloud room began to fade to white, a brightness everywhere. As it obscured Jaya from my sight, I heard an outsider's voice in my head—a place it did _not_ belong in.

_Why did you save me?_

I sighed. _It's part of my job,_ I replied.

_Why protect someone as worthless as I?_

_You make it sound like I'm a guardian angel or some crap. I'm not. I'm just trying to keep things on track. Besides, you're not "worthless". Hell, I bet someone's got big plans for you and your story._

_My…story?_

_Yeah. Because like it or not, Miss Jaya Azhdeen, your story has already just begun, and I'm required to come along for the ride._

With that, the scene faded to black.

* * *

Well, I'm _finally_ done. Gods, this was a hard load.

A few notes: some material in this chapter may be subject to change. Nothing I can do about it; this _is_ a "fanfic fanfiction" of **Bladesworn**'s **_Lay of a Broken-Winged Sparrow_**, involving a (hopefully) non-"Gary Stu" original character. As I intend to keep the story consistent the original, please don't expect any too-strong deviantions, like OOC cases or romance between the OC and Jaya.

Anyway, thanks for reading the first chapter, and please R&R! :)


	2. Chapter 2: Cruel Fate, Foolish Cries

**Author's Note:** Sorry this took so long. There was a lot of personal things I had to deal with in the past two months. Anyways, please leave a (comstructive) review after reading this; they're a huge help with writing and improving this "fanfic fanfiction". Enjoy! :)

* * *

"Cruel Fate, Foolish Cries"

(Date c.n.a.), a.2012

017 "Bluefield"

[En route from Carcarron Keep to White Barrow], Asmodae, Atreia

Aion { Fan Fiction

* * *

It was (still) raining outside Jaya's cage when I "appeared" inside it.

Now, I don't know what you're thinking, but I swear that it wasn't my idea. Hell, I didn't even know this was going to happen. There I suddenly was—sitting criss-cross applesauce in the straw of the wagon, opposite of Jaya's sleeping form. Her necklace was still clenched in her right hand, her eyes closed. Looking around, I surmised from the coloration around me that I was no longer in the Grey Realm, that I was officially in reality. Didn't quite explain why the guards didn't even notice me, though.

I should've guessed that the "dream sequence" from earlier—the doppelgänger, the "false" necklace, the real Jaya—was also to prepare us both for when Jaya first awoke. No telling what she'd do when she found me inside the cage with her, an unwilling intruder, but I highly doubted that she'd give a warm welcome.

Jaya did not disappoint my doubts. Thirty seconds after I appeared, she began to stir. She rubbed at her eyes before focusing her bleary gaze outside the cage door. She still looked depressed—_was_ depressed, lost in despair, just like before. I said nothing, simply sitting there like a bloody idiot. Then, drawing out her arm, she broke her gaze from the rain to look at her jade necklace, the two dueling kestrels. At this point, she noticed something out of place, something that didn't belong.

That's how she came to realize that a Caucasian male with "otherworldly" clothing and wrist-worn device—the foreigner from her dream—was sitting in the cage with her, watching her carefully.

"You—!"

The next thing I knew, my hands were firmly holding hers back by the struggling wrists, so she wouldn't strangle me or rip my throat out with her claws. With effort, I pushed her hostile form back into her corner. Jaya hit her back on the wall with a loud _THUD!_ and a sharp "Ah!". If the guards escorting us heard it, or even noticed at all, they gave no sign.

Recovering from the shove, Jaya gave me an almost-feral, hateful look, her fists clenching. Before she could get up to attack me again, however, I said: "Don't waste your energy, Miss Jaya. There's nothing either of us can do about this situation, anyway."

That put her off her guard. There she sat (or lay?), blinking her silver eyes in surprise. She brushed it off before asking, comprehensively, "Who—_what_ are you?"

I had expected something along those lines. "I'm afraid I can't tell you 'what' I am yet, ma'am," I replied, shugging. "As for 'who' I am, well… I'm just gonna say it: I'm 017 'Bluefield'. Pleased to make your acquaintence."

All things considered, that was probably more than enough. Jaya furrowed her raspberry brows, looking pretty bemused. "That's…an unusual name."

I sighed, leaning my head on the wood at my back. I guessed that this world didn't have a lot of "_field" names. "Yeah, I get that a lot. That's why I usually introduce myself as Bluefield."

"All right, 'Bluefield'…" My head left the wood behind it as I refocused on Jaya, who sat up and pressed her temples. The rain occupied the brief silence until she spoke again. "What in Aion's name are you _doing_ in here?"

"Nothing disgusting, if that's what you mean," I said, looking her in the eye. Inwardly, I shuddered. "I did just enter this wagon about a minute ago myself. By the way, how long _has_ it been since your trial?"

Jaya shook her head. "I don't remember. Maybe ab—wait." Her tired expression made way for suspicion. "How do you know about my trial?"

I said, "Simple. I was there."

The wagon passed by a patch of dark trees.

Jaya shook her head, brow furrowing. "That's impossible."

I looked her in the eye. "As impossible as appearing in another person's dreams?"

We looked at each other for a few minutes before she broke off her gaze, looking down at the floor. After what seemed like too long, she spoke again. "In that…dream," she started, sounding slightly pained, "what was that…_thing_ that you destroyed?"

"An Umbral Form," I said, "They're basically monsters. Some, like the one you saw, tend to behave like doppelgängers. Regardless of nature, though, they all have one thing in common."

Jaya looked up at me, "And that is…"

"In this case?"—and here I leaned forward, just enough to keep from provoking the prisoner again—"They aim to kill _you._"

Silence. Jaya looked at me, her eyes looking as thorugh they were conveying an inaudible message: _You should hav_e let _them, then. _She then laid back down and curled up in the straw again, looking as miserable as ever. Stagnating in self-pity. She shifted her gaze away from me, as though turning her back on the truth, and set it on watching the scenery beyond the cage bars pass us by.

_Well, _that_ ended smoothly,_ I thought. I decided not to tell her why I didn't let that monster kill her. At least, not yet.

Sighing, I pressed a button on my ZeroDrive. At once, the metal-grey device silently projected a holographic blue screen in front of me. I quickly adjusted its brightness so that it wouldn't disturb Jaya. It said:

_[ Progress Report ]_

_- [ World: Atreia ]_

_- [ Story: Aion - Fan Fiction - The Lay of the Broken-Winged Sparrow ]_

_- [ Current Progress: c.n.a. ]_

_- [ Current Seg.: Chapter 02 ]_

_- [ Seg. Progress: ~=8.42% ]_

I turned the screen off and looked at Jaya's prone form. She was fast asleep, her necklace clasped in her hand.

I looked outside at the rain, I pulled my knees to my chest as I put my head down.

I didn't sleep, though. Like many times before, my body wouldn't be able to sleep for a long time.

* * *

Around the time they showed up, it was still raining and I still wide awake. Not that it mattered; I was more worried about Jaya. She didn't show it, but I didn't need her to. Not when I could _feel_ her guilt and despair and wish to die flowing out of her, like a non-stop waterfall. For me, that was enough to make the confined atmosphere feel thick, the wooden cage itself almost smaller.

That wasn't what I was worried about, however. If this continued for too long, more Umbral Forms would find us and…well, let's just say that it would likely be fatal.

If Jaya knew what her emotions were doing, she gave no care or sign (can't blame her; they all rarely do). Since waking up that morning, she was silent, as the monsters kept pulling and the escort marching. She'd either watch the passing landscape or glumly act as if I didn't exist. Sometimes, she'd do both. I stayed quiet, either reading a book or checking my ZeroDrive. The two of us hadn't talked very much since our initial meeting.

As the rain continued around noon, I checked the Progress Report for what felt like the fiftieth time.

_- [ Seg. Progress: ~=8.42% ]_

I bit back a groan, settling for rubbing my forehead with my right hand. The number hadn't changed since last night. _What's holding the plot up like this?_ I wondered, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

It wasn't till around evening when the monotony began to show cracks.

When Jaya started to sing, I found myself a little taken aback. She was leaning her back on the wooden bars, her eyes half-open and sad, her voice calm and soft. Though the lyrics of the song were archaic and completely foreign to me, I could make out a few terms. "Arkain", "Carcarron", "Crown of Nails", "Osric", "Rivenstone". As she sung, I noticed that the guards closest to the wagon seemed to shudder—maybe from the cold rain, maybe from fear—and look away.

Three stanzas later, the monotony shattered.

* * *

_- [ Seg. Progress: from ~=28.32% to ~=60.53% ]_

* * *

Jaya sighed resignedly, pressing her jade necklace to her heart. "I bring death to all I touch, it seems," she muttered bitterly.

I shrugged, looking out at the winged figures on the stone road, in front of the cage door. "Yeah. Maybe."

Before they'd appeared, the convoy was working in a (relatively) orderly fashion—wagon moving, guards marching through the unending rain, and all that. But when the six winged figures _did_ appear? The only thing left intact from the following upheaval was our little wagon. With the beasts either immobilized or escaped, and all the guards killed, the term "convoy" seemed a little too generous to describe what the Elysian Daevas came to inspect.

Six pairs of hooded eyes stared at Jaya; Jaya, now curled up in a ball on the straw, stared back at them, like a caged animal at its annoying visitors.

Me? I sat in my spot on the side, observing her and her observers, the latter of which were, admittably, rather interesting.

And judging from their reactions, _they_ could see me. Luckily for everyone, I wasn't as important as the Asmodian female in the center of the cage.

As I watched, I took some mental notes for review later:

_Two females:_

_The one in front bears the wings of a peregrine falcon, dull silver with a bluish tinge. __The other has those of a butcherbird (a.k.a. shrike)—and, from what I saw, a violent approach to battle to match._

_Four males:_

_One has a pair of grey, narrow wings—similar to knives. Not quite sure what species that would be. __The one leaning forward slightly, out of curiousity (is a caged Asmodian _this_ interesting to him?)—bears owl wings of pale grey and gold. __The last two—I'm dead sure one of them has swan's wings. The last one… Did he get his from an albatross?_

As I looked on, the owl turned back to his colleagues, and they started a quick, heated discussion with them. I couldn't hear whatever they were saying—the rain drowned out their low voices—but I surmised that whatever they were here for, it wasn't about getting someone's birthday present.

I briefly turned to look at Jaya. "Hoping they'll kill you, right?" I asked, a little irritated now.

Jaya's silver eyes narrowed, not even bothering to look at me. "Piss off," she growled.

_Well, pardon my rudeness, ma'am,_ I thought. Sighing, I turned my view to back outside. The owl ended the debate with his group with a few final words, and the other five went to work. Miss Shrike took wing to literally keep a bird's-eye on the situation. At the same time, the remaining four Daevas got their hands dirty with "re-purposing" the cage wagon. Some of them got to removing the large wooden wheels, while others got to work with tying ropes in the wheels' places as if they were going to—

_Wait a minute…_ I thought. Then my gut started to rot (figuratively). _…Oh, _hell _no.__  
_

Jaya realized the same thing, too. At this point, the owl had moved back to his previous spot in front of us. As if on a delayed timer, Jaya sprung at the cage door like a feral animal. Her right hand reached through the bars and towards the owl's hood. He managed to step back in time, though—her claws only caught the hem of the robe with her claws, and I caught a glimpse of a liquid-gold iris.

She wasn't done. "Kill me!" Jaya screamed at, begged from, the owl. What a contrast to her singing earlier. Adrenaline fueled her body, amped with desperation. Her jade coraline necklace, still in her hand, swung so much, I was almost afraid that it would fly out of her grasp and disappear into the surrounding fog. But it didn't leave, and neither did Jaya's screams. "I know you know what I said;" she snarled, "you've heard it often enough! _K__ill me!_"

Everyone else near the cage stopped for a few moments.

The owl glanced up from Jaya slightly, nodding to someone on the cage roof. Suddenly, the dark shape of a person's head appeared from above the door to look at us, upside-down. His hood hung down, revealing a young, proud-looking male with pale white hair and pure-obsidian eyes. _The one with knife-like wings,_ I thought. His sudden appearance surprised Jaya, who fell back on her butt. He briefly looked at me, but he didn't as seem pissed off as when he resumed his glare at Jaya—narrowed slits of eyes, a scowl of disgust and prideful contempt.

Then he spoke, and this time, Jaya and I could understand what he said.

"No."

A deadly silence (save for the rain) briefly followed.

"…N-No…?"

The way Jaya said that reminded me of her reaction to Carcarron's final judgement—caught completely off-guard, hope of solace vanishing. This time, however, she also sounded dazed, as if she'd taken a hard blow to the head.

Mr. Knife Wings took the following silence as a chance to answer, his accent not quite accomadating to this language: "Your life is a property that now belongs to House Helios."

He left us to digest that info, going back to working on repurposing the wagon cage. I wasn't exactly sure how Jaya had interpreted that. All I knew was, they certainly didn't intend to kill her, and she knew it.

Then Jaya's anger and desparation came back to replace her shock. She came back on the door, pounding it, shouting through it at the top of her lungs, calling Mr. Knife Wings a wide variety of names and curses too vulgar to write down here. As she did so, the Elyos worked the ropes into a kind of harness, with four ropes acting as separate handles for four Daevas to carry us with.

I grabbed onto a wooden pole nearby to use as a handle. "Oh, man…" I groaned.

Jaya paid no attention. "What the _hell_ are you doing?!" she screamed. The only answer the Elyos bothered to give her were the Owl and Mr. Knife Wings giving her apparently-patronizing looks (e.g. as if they were dealing with a troublesome child).

The Daevas called out to each other again in _their_ language as they finished up and prepared to move out. Jaya railed at the bars, climbing onto the door and shaking it so much that I could feel her efforts in the woodwork. At the door, one of the wooden bars started to bulge noisily outward. A female's voice rang out from above, and almost immediately, the four Daevas at the cage dusted off, each with a rope in their hands.

The cage started to wobble somewhat as the Elyos gained altitude—wood creaking, ropes groaning, world seesawing.

As I clutched the pole like an anchor, already feeling seasick, Jaya started to try and loosen the wooden bar free of the door. As she was doing that, the Owl shouted to the others—whatever it was, the rain drowned it out. After several seconds, Jaya finally ripped one end of the bar loose with her hands. With gusto, she forcibly kicked the rest away, leaving a sizable gap that a person could squeeze through. I watched the bar fall into the grey…and fall…and fall…By the time it had hit the ground, looking about the size of a wood chip, I realized that the Daevas had already taken the cage, and its contents, to the skies, about ten stories up and counting.

I turned my head to look at Jaya. She was staring at the ground, too, a hopeless smile cross her face.

Briefly, I wondered if she knew how damn foolish it was—rushing to the one end all human beings face and take for granted, rushing to the end that wasn't ready to take her yet.

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_"Damnation!"_

My eyes widened at the sight. "Ah, friggin' hell…" I muttered.

Somehow, Jaya's suicide plan had painfully failed. From what I saw her do, she was trying to sqeeze through the door and…well, the only obvious thing, given the damn height. But the cage had other ideas—just as she finally broke free of the squeeze, letting out a morbid laugh, the cage itself tilted upward. It caught her leg between the wooden bars, the splintering wood dragging and opening a nasty wound into her calf. Blood leaked from the opened arteries, some drops falling into the void below us. The laugh abruptly gave way to a horribly agonized scream. If the Daevas noticed, they couldn't help—they were too busy in the air the cage flying.

So what was _I_ doing the whole time until then, you might ask? "Why the hell did you let Jaya do that, you bastard?!" The answer is: because I'm not supposed to mess with how a story plays out to a significant degree. That's the law.

As I watched Jaya's painful writhing, wondering what I should do, my ZeroDrive suddenly gave out a warning tone. I looked at it and saw a red holographic message:

**_[ DANGER! UMBRAL FORMS DETECTED ]_**

It was about then that I noticed something in my peripherals: a dark shape flickering at the edge of the cage floor, below where Jaya was hanging from her severely injured leg.

My blood—well, technically, Fracture Fluid—grew cold. _Oh, man, here we go again,_ I groaned inwardly.

A pitch-black, monkey-like arm reached out from underneath the cage, making itself visible to me. As I watchd, the Umbral's limbtwisted around, grabbed Jaya's injured leg, and forced it into the wooden bars that had opened the wound. Jaya screamed louder.

With my right hand, I reached my ZeroDrive and pulled out a Card. Its metal frame housed a blue glass plate, with the image of a handgun—and its name—projected across its surface.

_- [Weapon: G18 (Glock 18)]_

"Release," I muttered under my breath. With a low _hummm_, the Card glowed a brilliant blue as it morphed into a G18 pistol with an extended 33-round magazine.

Despite how violently the cage was rocking us, I somehow managed to aim at the Umbral Form's arm and pulled the trigger. I stopped at six rounds: one to "injure" the monster, the other five to drive it away.

"Well, this is just fantastic," I muttered as I got to my feet, my hand still gripping the pole._  
_

A shrill shriek rang out from behind. I turned my head and saw three Umbral Forms flying towards us. Each had bat-like wings, a portly reptilian body with a long tail, and an upside-down snake's head (couldn't tell what kind) jutting out of the front. Due to their inky darkness, trying to look at them was like trying to look at something in my blind spot. As they got closer, however, I realized that the Umbrals weren't actually fat—hanging onto their chests like leeches were a bunch of smaller, monkey-shaped Umbral Forms, like the one from earlier.

Gritting my teeth, I aimed the G18 at them. "Ah, you gotta be kidding me…!"

One flying freakshow—apparently the leader, since it was up front—soared up close to the cage and hissed at me. Its payload of little monsters unraveled themselves from the carrier. They screeched and jumped onto the cage, climbed and crawled around, reached through the bars and towards us. They got all over the cage bars.

It was like a nightmare of some sort—at least three to five "monkeys" covered every wall from the outside, and every single damn one of them was after Jaya and me. Most were reaching for me as I inched my way to the center; but a few were trying to get to Jaya, too—trying to hop onto her pain-ridden form, only to fall away into the nothingness.

And the worst of it was this: the Elyos Daevas hadn't even noticed that a swarm of shadow creatures had attacked the cargo. Later, I would learn that the Umbrals were concealing themselves from their sight with a special ability. Until then, however, I was more worried about the monsters themselves.

I turned my back to Jaya and swept the G18 in a wide arc, pulling the trigger the whole way.

_Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-ta t-tat-tat!*_

The monsters all fell away from the cage, screeching in pain as they fell—vanished, more like—into the void.

Well, except for the three flyers and the lone wretch who'd crawled onto the top of the cage, that is.

I'd expected the other two flyers to release their payloads on us, but their leader suddenly turned its (upside-down) head to the side, as if someone was whispering in its ear, then screeched to the others. As I watched, they flew up to join the lone monster on top of the cage.

_That can't be good,_ I thought. Figuring that they would merge together and turn into something…worse. I reloaded the pistol with a fresh clip.

Good thing, too. Ten seconds later, an inhuman roar rang out as a larger Umbral Form suddenly appeared in front of me and outside the bars (sounds familiar, right?), hanging its upper body upside-down. I fell on my butt in shock, nearly hitting my back to the door. I couldn't see its face, couldn't see how this _thing_ had made such a horrible sound, but I _could_ see its clawed hand punch through the bars. Pieces of wood flew out of the cage and simply tumbled away as the Umbral's hand reached past me—reached for Jaya's injured, bleeding leg. If it got a hold of her—

I spent five bullets on the Umbral's arm.

_Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!_

_**"GRRRAAAAAAAAGGHHH!"**_ As expected, its scream of pain, as it retracted its wounded arm, was barely human.

I spent the next twenty-seven on its chest.

_Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-ta t-tat-tat!*_

**_"GURRAAAAAAAARRRAAAAAAAAGGHHH!"_** It clutched at its heart—or rather, where its heart would be—as it continued to scream. It reminded me of Jaya's condition, but I shook it off. _If I don't stop this thing now, _I thought, _she'll never _get_ a chance to recover._

The Umbral Form finally stopped screaming. Breathing heavily, the monster glared at me, seething, in what I can only assume was pure hatred. _**"This ain't over, you great big FREAK!"**_ it hissed, in surprisingly coherent speech. **_"Not for YOU, and cert'inly NOT for that BITCH, either!"_**

Yeah, I almost couldn't believe it just said that, either.

I aimed at its head. "Go to hell, jackass," I snarled.

_Tat!_

There are no words to truly describe the Umbral Form's howl as it disintergrated into black dust, as the winds blew them out of the cage and into the nothingness behind us. For everyone's sake, I won't even try.

At that point, the Elyos started to shout to each other, as if they were relaying some sudden good news. Looking ahead, I saw that we were en route to a small, dark field. It seemed empty and normal enough—well, it would have, if it weren't for the ring of long bones, stones, and wood laying on the ground. What really made this particular construction stick out, however, were the mists of orange light that issued from it, like a gateway to a faraway land. Except this time, unlike the ones I saw at the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, it really _was._

I didn't really have time to wonder how they built that, all things considered. When we got close enough to it, all six Elyos Daevas dove for the portal, a move that would otherwise smash us into a grease spot in this godsdamn field.

I grabbed the pole again and hung on, bracing for a possible impact as my stomach fell out on me. As I briefly turned my head to her, Jaya—whether because we were falling, or that we were leaving this darker side of this world—screamed in fear.

It happened quickly. With the butcherbird on his tail, the Owl flew into the portal first, wings glancing the edges as they passed through. Their forms became a pair of dark silhouettes against the orange, lasting for about a second before fading to the void. The albatross and swan followed, launching themselves as if to beat us in the last leg of a race. Without pause, the peregrine and Knife Wings followed suite, leaving the wooden cage with no means of aerial support. Before my stomach could grasp what had ultimately happened, we dropped, like a stone, as the cage dragged Jaya and I straight through the portal.

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My last thoughts before we hit the light were: _Oh, crap—!_

_WHOOSH! …_

There was no impact. Instead, a burst of bright light collided against my eyelids. My kept my eyes squeezed shut until it dimmed enough for me to open my eyes.

_…Huh?_ I thought, looking around. _So…_this_ is the betwixt and between…?_

Outside the cage, a vortex of blue, green, and orange lights spun around us. Veins of white light flowed along with it, making it feel like I was in the middle of a large, rolling ocean wave.

I glanced behind me. Jaya was frozen stiff. Her body was completely fixed in place, as she'd flown through a flash freeze by her leg. In fact, the blood that flowed from her wound had stopped moving—not getting better, but not getting worse, either. Her face still had that expression of fear I'd briefly seen before we went through. It was eerie. It felt like someone had pressed the pause button on life around me, leaving me to the brief awe.

Then I saw _him_.

At the time, I could only see his silhouette on the other side of the waves, but clearly watching us from the side of the cage. Or rather, he was definately watching Jaya. I made out a grand robe that draped over his body, and an triangle (?) -shaped head. Beyond that is anyone's guess.

I could definately tell two things about him, though. First, he was benevolent. Second, he had no intention of having Jaya die.

At least, not yet.

Then the lights brightened around us, and I saw nothing else until we reached the far end of the wormhole.

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_[ ERROR! ]_

_- [ Written account for Segment Progress from ~=83.17% to 100.00% currently unretrivable. Skip to next Segment? ]_

_[ YES ] / [ NO ]_

_{[ YES ]} / [ NO ]_

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_- [ Skip to Segment: **Chapter 03** Confirmed. Please standby… ]_


	3. Chapter 3: An Odd Prison Life, Day 1

**Author's Note**: For once, I post two chapters in relatively quick succession. Sorry, but don't expect this to be regular: school's starting tomorrow, so I can't focus on this all that much. Regardless, I really appreciate any reviews you guys have for me; they're a huge help. And before I sign off and let you read this chapter, I'd like to thank **Bladesword** for allowing me to borrow their original fanfic for this "fanfic fanfiction". Thanks! :)

* * *

"An Odd Prison Life, Day n+1"

(Date c.n.a.), a.2012

017 "Bluefield"

Prison Cell in Unknown Area of: Sanctum, Elysea, Atreia

Aion { Fan Fiction

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I think I hated Jaya's new cage more than she did. There was way too much white and light in there.

It was a square prison, eight feet in length and width—enough room to walk around in circles, if need be. About 16 feet above the white stone floor sat a glass skylight. The world's sun was blazing down through it, the bright heat like a forest fire. I was sitting in the little piece of shade the skylight had left behind, opposite of the door. No handle, no hinges, no windows—just a thick piece of work involving vertical wooden beams in steel bindings, all painted white.

I sighed, putting my hand to my forehead. That landing had done a real number on Jaya and myself. At least Jaya was okay, all things considered—she was out cold from hitting her head on the stone floor, on top of her severe injury. A gash like that, she was lucky the wood didn't pierce through to her bones. "Our" new hosts had her leg wound stitched up and bandaged; meanwhile, they virtually ignored me, with Knife Wings and that other guy only giving me a glance or two.

Not that it mattered. I was used to it.

I looked down at the ground if front of my shoes, slightly to my right. As expected, Jaya was sound asleep from the little "trip". She slowly inhaled and exhaled, her head resting near the edge of the shade. She had a peaceful expression on her dark face—the kind you'd see with a dreamless sleep. Her white gauze-like bandage contrasted with her dark skin, even in the shade. She looked pretty well for an exiled woman who went through quite the aerial roller coaster ride yesterday.

A few minutes later, the sun's light eventually crawled over Jaya's eyes.

As she came to, she flexed her fingers and toes as if she were getting some feeling back into them. Right after, she rolled onto her stomach and crawled into the shade, beside me. Well…more like three feet away from me. Her leg was starting to bleed again, from the point of injury—blots of crimson along the white cloth. As soon as she was "safely" out of the unrelenting sunlight, she stopped and let out a muffled moan.

"Rise and shine, Miss Jaya," I said.

Without looking at me, she asked, "That wasn't a dream, was it?"

"I think we both know the answer to that question."

Jaya turned over and, using her hands as improvised sunglasses, looked around the room. She sighed. "…I guess we've no choice but to await our inevitable visitors."

I nodded, shifting a little, knees to my chest. "Yeah, well… Technically, yours. I wonder who they'll be? The peregrine? Swan? Knife Wings?"

Jaya turned to stare at me like I'd just said gibberish. "You mean, the gyrefalcon?"

_"Gyrefalcon"… So _that's_ the bird type,_ I thought. "Yeah, him."

Jaya's head turned down, looking at the bottom of the door. I could have sworn I had heard her growl.

I said nothing. Well, I thought, I guess there's only one way for us to find out.

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"Oh, geez…" I groaned. "That almost bore a hole in my gut."

I remember that some time ago, a friend of mine said something along the lines of, "Next time someone wants to shoot our pilot, can I get a little _warnin'?_" I know this isn't the same world, but the context of "peace interrupted" still applies. After all, Jaya and I—we weren't exactly expecting the door to open after thirty-four minutes, now, were we?

I recognized the two faces from earlier. One was Knife Wings—the gyrefalcon. The other was the blond man from that room we'd arrived in. With effort (and her hands still shading her eyes), Jaya sat up, pulling her injured leg beneath her. Her gaze shifted from the two males to the doorway behind them, and I could see her muscles tense, as if she were planning to bolt past them and out of the cell. But it was brief—no sooner than she entered that "fight-or-flight ready" state had she left it, as if her hopes had been dashed to pieces. Considering her leg, and the group of guards just outside the door as it closed…well, needless to say, we were stuck in there.

The gyrefalcon wore a set of black leather clothing. He had swords sheathed on his hips, as well as other blades concealed over his persons (e.g. throwing knives in his boot folds). If possible, even getting a handshake from this one could leave me with a few cuts. Beside him, the blond man wore simple blue-and-purple robes. Unlike the gyrefalcon, he was unarmed in terms of weapons—not that he needed one, I figured. Especially since he was the guy responsible for the portal that brought us here.

When the door closed, the two began to discuss something between themselves, in the tongue I was unfamiliar with. About ten, twelve seconds later, the gyre suddenly turned to us, eyes cold as night, and spoke again in what I guessed was Jaya's native language—Asmoth, as I would later learn.

He said, "We wish to know your name."

Hers. Not mine; hers. Jaya's. Though he'd probably ask me later, anyway.

She let out a morbid laugh, the kind you'd from those with a death wish or something. "What does it matter to you?" she drawled. "I am a prisoner of war."

"Elyos do not treat their prisoners as slaves," replied the gyrefalcon, pausing before continuing. "House Helios holds you as a guest."

"House of the sun?" A pause. She visibly grit her teeth. "_Me?_ A _guest?_ You're awfully high-handed for a _thief_."

If Jaya was trying to piss the hell out of the gyrefalcon, she was succeeding. She was also going a little too far, laughing like that.

I could see the gyre himself quietly losing his cool—eyebrows knitting, shoulders tensing, hand going for one of his swords. The blond man put his hand on gyre's shoulder just as he touched the handle, like a silent warning.

Jaya still wasn't done, which was starting to tick me off. She began to speak to the gyre in a slurred and hasty manner, as if to make the language barrier harder than it should be. "Have I ruffled your feathers, _Elyos?_" Jaya hissed. "You've nothing to gain from me, and I suggest you end this game before your friend ends it for you. I am dead already. I have nothing to fear from your threats."

I thought the gyre would get angrier. So you can imagine my (mild) surprise when I saw him calm down—his anger gone in an instant.

"I suppose if I am to demand your name, it is only proper to offer my own." The gyrefalcon gave Jaya a little mock bow, his black eyes trained on her, filled with apparent despise. "Your people know me as Ourobouros Stalks-By-Night."

Jaya and I said nothing. Jaya, because she knew and would rather not have to say. I, because I hadn't a clue who this Ourobouros character was—well, only that he was an infamous figure with Jaya's former people.

With that out of the way, Jaya looked at the blond man behind Ourobouros, who managed to give her an acknowledgement less hateful—one raised eyebrow, a nod of his head. He said, "Terekai."

Before Jaya had actually left her seat, I could have sworn briefly smelling something impossible in a place like this—the faint yet unmistakable smell of smoke.

An image suddenly flashed through my mind—a memory that was not mine. The image was mostly deep-red and orange. In the center, I could see the slender silhouette of a woman—she was on fire. And the person in front of her, calm as he cast those very flames crost her form, was—

The image vanished. The prison door opened again.

Jaya didn't get a real chance to damage Terekai when six guards—mortals, apparently—rushed through the door and, with effort, ripped her away from the Sorcerer. I have to give her props for her (brief) tenacity. The way she was trying to beck back at him, clawing the air and flailing wildly—she was like a rabid, angry animal. Ourobouros merely watched her as if she were another pesky wretch. Terekai, on the other hand, was completely calm. His expression didn't look like someone who was just attacked by a woman who lost pretty much everything and was prone to lashing out. Terekai said nothing as he watched the guards plop Jaya back into her part of the shade, in the corner.

_THUD!_

Jaya cringed in pain, biting her lip as the red along her bandage grew—another wasted stitch. And it _hurt_. She pounded her fist on the white stone flooring, and I was surprised that she'd left a bloody imprint there.

The guards backed up, probably ready for another lunge at their lieges. To their disappointment, Jaya instead laid where she'd landed. I didn't know what she was doing, only that she wasn't simply just lying prone like a casualty of war (or, her case, "kidnapping"). Which she was.

With that out of the way, Ourobouros began to speak with the guards. In a minute's time, the gyrefalcon walked out from the group of soldiers and knelt down in front of Jaya. He reached behind him and pulled out a familiar piece of jewlery. The jade coraline with the dual kestrals.

Jaya's eyes widened.

Oh, dear.

He brought it in front of Jaya, dangling like a shiny string of diamonds. In a desperate attempt to reunite herself with it, her hand flew towards it. She got two inches away from her jade necklace before Ourobouros yanked it back, up high—a good-enough distance out of her reach capacity.

(As for me, I wondered how that piece of jewlery had made the crazy kidnapping trip intact. But that's just getting off the point.)

They stared at each other, hating each other. Jaya snarled at him. Ourobouros said nothing. This continued for about…five, six seconds before the gyrefalcon finally spoke.

"The price is a name."

Jaya didn't answer. Not at first. As she tried to work her voice through the emotion of hatred that tied it down, Ourobouros broke his pause with a shrug and slowly began to draw the necklace back to the pocket he pulled it from. Realizing, Jaya grabbed the man's other wrist, claws leaving light marks in the leather as a wordless, yet clear, warning.

A brief silence. Then…

"…Jaya," she answered. I couldn't see her eyes. But I could tell that her hatred was no longer reserved solely for the Elyos—she'd given up a bargaining chip to Ourobouros, and she hated herself for it.

Ourobouros stared at her. Then he exhaled—either a silent "huh" or "hah", or just a snort—firmly pulled his wrist out of her grip, and poured the jade necklace into her other, awaiting hand. With that, he stood up, turned away, and muttered something in his native tongue. And here's the thing: _this_ time, I somehow understood _exactly_ what he said.

_"Hate me and live."_

I didn't know why, exactly, but something in my memory told me to keep what I had just interpreted to myself. After all, if Jaya didn't understand it now, she likely would later.

Then the gyrefalcon turned to me. "And your name…?" he muttered.

Jaya looked at me, her jade coraline clutched to her chest. I looked back at her briefly, before looking up at the visitor, looking him in the eye.

I simply said, "Bluefield."

The man paused before nodding and walking away. Terekai gave us both interested glances, before he and the gyrefalcon left the room, guards in tow. The door swung closed behind them, and we were, once again, alone.

Before she chose to ignore me to stare at the necklace in her hand, Jaya was sitting up, staring at me in some degree of disbelief—like I'd just changed into a very stupid animal mascot costume. I found her staring at me rather…uncomfortable. "What?" I finally asked.

"How…" She was trying to figure out what to say. "How can you give your name out to them like that? Have you no pride? No honor?"

I sighed. Honor and pride, huh? "Not a lot," I replied, putting my right hand to my left knee. At the time, I wondered how many time I would have to explain this to other people. Other Ones. "Actually, whether or not I give someone here my name makes zero difference."

"Why?"

I turned to look her in the eye. "Because 'people' like me—Zeroes—we 'don't exist' in the worlds we travel to. Sure, _I'm_ here, and I'm 'human' enough to be considered as a person, but it doesn't matter—I do _not_ count as part of this world's population." I closed my eyes, then reopened them, brow furrowing. "To put it bluntly, it's like taking any number and adding zero to its value: you get the same number."

Jaya sat there for a second before nodding slowly. Then she looked as through she'd realized something.

"In the cage, you introduced youself as '_Zero Seventeen_ Bluefield'. Are there…more of you…?"

I could hear a trace of fear in her voice. But I simply sighed, lowering my head. This _again,_ I thought.

"Well…not anymore. Right now, I'm…all that's left." I looked at her, with sadness beginning to plague me again on the inside. Maybe it was showing through my face, or my body language. But I continued. "And, like you with your 'Raum', I lost two Zeroes—two _people_—very close to me."

I thought to no one: _There. I said it. Happy now?_

Understanding dawned across Jaya's face once again. "But…why do you continue to live…?"

I leveled my head and looked at her again. "Because I made a promise to them before they died. A promise I still intend to keep."


End file.
